A judge held the city of New York in contempt of court yesterday for failing to arraign in a timely manner more than 560 people jailed on minor protest-related charges, raising the prospect of the city being fined more than $500,000.

Manhattan Supreme Court Judge John Cataldo also ordered the immediate release of all protesters who had remained locked up for more than 24 hours without being arraigned as required by state law.

After the late-afternoon ruling, the flow of detainees being released remained at a trickle.

Cataldo’s sharp rebuke followed repeated foot-dragging since Wednesday night by city officials, whom civil-liberties lawyers accused of illegally trying to keep the protesters jailed until after President Bush accepted his re-nomination last night.

Lawyers for the activists, who were rounded up in mass arrests of anti-Bush protesters in Manhattan Tuesday, had gone to court Wednesday night demanding that they be released unless they were quickly arraigned.

“I want my kid back. I want democracy,” said Connie Steensa, 54, a Manhattan woman whose 17-year-old son, Richard Prins, had been held since Tuesday without being arraigned. Steensa said that when she telephoned the Central Booking office at criminal court Wednesday to ask about her son, a woman who answered said, “They’re holding all of the demonstrators until President Bush leaves town.”

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne – whose department has disclosed that a number of protesters were caught carrying dangerous weapons – denied that that was the case, and said arraignments were being held as quickly as possible.

In hearings yesterday, city lawyers claimed Tuesday’s more than 1,000 arrests – the largest ever for any single borough – had made it difficult to get people arraigned within the 24 hours set by law. Most of the arrests were for violations that normally would result in a ticket, not a stint in jail.

Michael Cardozo, the city’s top lawyer, also argued that police did not want to release those arrested without checking for outstanding warrants.

But lawyers for the activists scoffed at the city’s claims. They noted that city officials had bragged before the convention of being prepared to handle up to 1,000 arrests per day. They also noted that people who had been arrested for non-protest crimes, including robbers, were being arraigned in less than 12 hours. But in the case of the protesters, “their arrests are 40, 50, 60 hours old,” lawyer Daniel Alterman angrily told Cataldo.

Cataldo’s patience with the city grew increasingly thin throughout the day, particularly after authorities failed to abide by a timetable he set for all of the 560 to be arraigned by late afternoon or set free.

“I don’t see why they are still being detained,” said Cataldo at 2 p.m., noting that there were four courtrooms open for arraignment proceedings. Cataldo’s patience evaporated by the late afternoon, when he ordered that all protesters being held longer than 24 hours be set free.

“These people have already been the victims of the process,” the judge said, telling city lawyers, “I can no longer accept your statements that you are trying to comply.”

He later issued the finding of contempt against the city, which could later be forced to pay a fine of up to $1,000 for each person kept in jail longer than the 24 hours without arraignment.

Cardozo said the city was trying to comply with the judge’s order to release the arrestees, but noted that “we just can’t open all the jails in the city.”

Also yesterday, there were several small anti-Bush demonstrations around the city, resulting in 26 arrests. Twelve were busted during a sit-in by AIDS activists at Grand Central Terminal.

And the NYPD yesterday unveiled an arsenal of weapons – including Mace, jagged sticks and razors – seized from demonstrators.

Also seized were wooden poles, broomsticks or stickball bats that had been cut into four sections – each section having sharp jagged edges – razors, gas masks and handkerchiefs laced with vinegar to defeat the NYPD pepper spray, as well as large marbles, ball bearings and other metal objects for undermining the footing of police horses.

Also found were makeshift body armor, made of PVC plastic, and other protective equipment that was concealed on protesters’ legs and forearms so that cops would have a hard time trying to handcuff them, officials said.